Traitor Wolf
by Akushi
Summary: It's just something I made up. It's a little weird though. There Are five chapters so far. Reviews Please!


Chapter 1: Blue Friend or Foe?

"Blue why?" he asked softly. Blue forced her eyes to meet his, to stare down the painful realization his Kiba's beautiful face. He looked so. . .calm. Always he looked so peaceful, like he knew exactly where he was going. Like he had every belief he would get there. As if he held no real regard to this world because it was only temporary. Like she hadn't just sunk her fangs into his shoulder and grievously hurt him.

He just stood there, looking so blank and calm, like he had not yet figured her true reason for meeting him. She wanted him to get mad. She wanted him to fight her, to demand why she sided with the humans or go off on an angry tirade about Paradise, but no.

He just stood there, blood dripping down his arm and splattering the ground beside his sneaker. His own blood sprayed across the side of his neck and soaking his jacket and fur as shadows played across on side of his face hiding it. The other half was splattered in red, glistening clearly in the moonlight. Those eyes, pools of green-blue, so full of contented, hope before, so happy for her decision to join his friend and him on the journey to Paradise.

They were so empty now.

Blue reached to wipe Kiba's blood from her mouth; she couldn't stomach the taste of it. The warm, slick liquid made her body squirm with nausea. She was abhorred by the bitter tang of it on her tongue. She'd done it. There was no turning back. She told herself it wasn't any different from the blood of any other wolves she'd killed. It was no different at all.

Except that it was.

Kiba reached up a hand to clutched the wounded shoulder, those sad, beautiful eyes watching her as she spat his blood on the ground.

Blue bared her teeth at him, fangs glistening, gleaming scarlet in the moonlight, dripping his thick, hot blood. She saw Kiba's eyes widen very slightly, the sight of his own blood on her incisors must have only just registered. More, to convince herself of her decision Blue licked the blood away and swallowed. Swallowed Kiba's blood.

She felt filthy.

He lifted his face to hers, eyes unreadable.

"Blue. You didn't mean it. You can't want this," he murmured. His voice. She hated that voice. Hated it because she loved it, the way he was so calm and quiet. The way she knew he was right and she was wrong. Like he was willing to give her a second chance after what she'd just done.

"You can still find Paradise, Blue. You're a wolf. You know inside you want to, come with us." Blue was stunned.

Kiba held out his hand, soaked with blood dripping from the wound she'd inflicted. She looked up from that scarlet smeared palm and into its owner's eyes. They were gentle, still ready to take her as a pack sister. How could he? How could he STILL accept her? She hated him for not hating her! Hated his gentle eyes! Hated his perfect, beautiful face! Hated. . .hated. . .

SHE HATED HIS UNSHAKABLE FAITH! Relieved to have found a fuel, she clung to that hatred.

Suddenly driven by the new emotion she moved across the floor and wrapped Kiba in an intimate embrace, ignoring his outstretched hand. Kiba seemed a bit perplexed by her sudden outburst. She could feel his blood hot though her jacket. She'd make him see!

She lowered her head to the would on his arm and slowly licked the blood from his coat. She drew back, feeling the warm red running over her lips and dribble over her chin. She locked eyes with Kiba, forcing him to see her, to watch tell him she was his enemy now. Consuming blood of another creature. IT stated she was a predator not. She was HUNTING him. His blood was in her mouth, on her lips, her tongue. She licked it from her lips and moved to do it again.

-Hate me! Hate me!-

Kiba didn't fight her at first, only stood there, stunned. She could tell he was still in shock by how easily he submitted to her perverse ministrations. The way his body relaxed in her hold as she dragged him close, running her tongue through his hair, lapping away the coating of blood in his fur and cleaning it from his skin.

Kiba's arms moved up, slow, jerky, uncertain, so he could take her upper arms in his hands. They were so cool through her jacket. He tried to ease her away, gently, like a friend confused by the action of his old comrade.

-No! You have to fight me! Hate me! Don't give in! I can't do this unless you fight me!-

"What are you doing?" he asked, those intense blue-green eyes gazing into her indigo irises. "It's not that serious. But we must move quickly to catch up with the oth-,"

-NO! I'll make you hate me!-

She darted forward and interrupted Kiba's last word by sinking her teeth viciously into his shoulder a second time.

Time froze.

She whimpered silently as his blood spurted onto her tongue, hot, tangy, and thick. Kiba jerked, body shuddering involuntarily and he sank to his knees, her fangs deep in his body. She could hear his breathe catching in his throat, choked, panting, see the disbelief pooled in those green-blue irises as they went wide. Blue still held him, arms around his shoulders, face against him, fangs piercing pale skin. Why didn't he fight beck? Why didn't he stop her? In frustration her jaws clenched tighter and dug in deep.

Finally, Kiba showed some dn self preservation and kicked her solidly in the stomach. Blue grunted slightly, startled by the blinded agility in which Kiba had attacked her. She was knocked back on her tail end, doubled over and winded. Kiba was obviously fighting some pain as he stumbled back against the wall. He fetched up hard against the opposite side of room and nearly fell, sliding down the wall.

A dark scarlet smear was left on the stone.

He stared up at Blue through a curtain of wild black brown strands. Blood even dripped from his hair; was covering half of his face. She was enchanted by that stare, trapped by the look in his eyes that drove a bolt of agony through her chest. Betrayal on confusion. A painful vulnerability that the white wolf rarely exhibited.

The next moment glass shattered and exploded into the street as ever quick Kiba dove through the window and sprinted away. Blue stood, there a moment, blood splattered all over, coating her mouth, dripping. She'd just hurt Kiba.

She'd betrayed his trust. Pack trust.

She had nothing to lose now.

She gave chase.

Chapter 2: Betrayal!

Thu-thud!

Thu-thud!

Thu-thud!

Thu-thud!

The streets were quiet all for the steady pounding. They were strange footfalls that echoed like the moans of wraiths in the near empty city's back allies. A small girl dared to rise from her bed, hearing the sound of the racing footsteps.

"Miki?" she mumbled sleepily, naming her once beloved puppy dog. She remembered what the sound of a four legged animal sounded like. Those running feet. They sounded like a dog to her. Crawling from beneath her covers she made her way to the window, pulling apart the rotting shudders to peer into the moonlit ally way.

The girl ducked low to the sill as a shadowy blur raced past. She glimpsed swift legs carrying a dark haired young man, hardly eighteen, through the debris strewn ally, graceful and swift as if he were flying. The pounding of his black and white sneakers sounded precisely like the claws of a dog to her.

Suddenly a soft growl drifted up and another raven brown headed figure streaked past. Female this time, also clad in a, dark jacket and jeans. A thin red scarf about her throat fluttering gently. Her breathe was excited, fast, there was a determine grimace on her lips that pulled at her beautiful face.

She pursued.

He fled.

His breath was rapid, not tired yet, but quick. The adrenaline of the pursued shot through his veins, causing his heart to run fast as his feet. He hurdled a fallen dumpster and skidded around a sharp turn, sneakers skidding on the filthy cement as his threw an arm out to correct his balance, shooting down the narrow paths, instinct directing him.

Left, right, left, left again, jump, turn, wait, go. . .

He gripped his shoulder, hot liquid spreading like warm water under his fingers, soaking his jacket, bleeding through fur that you could not see. His dark, green blue eyes, so intense you thought he was contemplating the end of time at all times, were unfocused, glazed with pain, confusion. Half finished thoughts raced through his mind, disjointed memory, reasoning. . .

Betrayal.

-I shouldn't . . . have been . . . trusting. . .I thought . . . wrong. All wrong.-

The boy's foot snagged on a fallen support beam from a demolish construction site, project long abandoned by the miserable humans who'd tried to create something before funds gave out. Now their lack of money would cost him his life. How pathetic Fate was sometimes. The injured male stumbled to the ground, elbows breaking his fall as he collapsed on the cement.

Then he heard her snarl.

He jerked his head around just as the sleek female figure vaulted over the beam he'd failed to clear. With a triumphant howl of victory (literal or not) she lunged at the fallen pack leader. His green blue grew wide. White fangs, black fur and merciless blue eyes drilled into his irises, reflected on them.

"Gotcha!"

"BLUE!"

He was on his back in an instant. Blue felt his hind legs drive into her stomach, smashing the breath from her and vaulting her over his head. She screamed, but flipped through the air to land neatly on her feet. The young woman gasped, clutching her bleeding stomach. Human form showing the telltale signs of deep claw marks, scraped into her flat belly.

She lifted her bloody fingers and licked them, eyeing her prey, blue eyes glittering.

"You're trapped, Kiba."

The white wolf/The dark haired boy with green-blue eyes struggled to roll onto his stomach, pull his legs under him and lurch up. But he was too weak. He couldn't do it and Kiba fell to his knees, clutching his abdomen in pain. Blood was blooming across the white of his T-shirt, dripping on the ground.

"You can't get away," she told him coldly. "I can see and hold you in both forms. I'm not some stupid human you can fool with tricks of the eye."

The wolf gasped, his breath wet and choked. Blue knew he was suffering. It was incredible he'd run this long with his injuries, after the drugs she'd slipped him. Her sapphire eyes gleamed in the dark, catching the light and glowing green like an animal's. (For obvious reasons.)

She stepped toward the helpless wolf. Kiba snarled, lip curling back from his teeth and baring unusually prominent incisors in his human guise. His wolf self exposed an impressive set of glistening fangs. Blue couldn't help be impressed, but not THAT impressed. He was on the ropes. It was all intimidation.

An alpha too proud to admit defeat.

He'd die first.

But Blue didn't want death here. Kiba's pain wasn't her priority, it was Kiba himself. She needed him. As did her master and his partner.

"Blue," rasped the boy. The girl paused, watching him as his shoulders hunched tighter, pain rippling across his body in spasms. He turned an accusing, imploring gaze up to her, dark spikes of his untamed hair sliding into his gaze, ignored. "W – why? Why are you doing this? I thought – Cheza. She spoke with you-"

Blue's hands snapped out, quick as a cobra's strike. Kiba gasped sharply as the female knocked him back, swiftly leaping on him. She pinned his arms at his side with her knees, legs straddling his chest and clamping her hands down viciously around Kiba's throat. Her fingers encircled his slender neck and choking off his air. His hands flew to her wrists, vainly trying to twist her off, but she had the use of her weight, health and clear thinking to pin him.

"I know! Don't talk to me about her!" she hissed, shaking the injured wolf. Hatred, grief, and anger raged in her gaze, poisoning Kiba with her emotions. He flinched, pain etched on his sadly, attractive features. Blue didn't let go though. "You thought wrong, Kiba. You and the others may love Cheza. And follow her. WELL, SO DO I! But I can't go to her. Never!"

Kiba struggled for a long time, thrashing and twisting like a wild thing, but he couldn't get free. He couldn't get free. Her hatred, her jealousy burned like fire, searing his throat. Or maybe it was just lack of air. Why? Why couldn't she? What was wrong with it? Why didn't she look for Paradise with them?

Suddenly heavy foot falls registered in Kiba and Blue's sensitive ears and Kiba struggled to see, but Blue tightened her grip on his neck, driving all thoughts of it from his head as he fought for air.

"Don't kill him, Blue. I Don't give a dn if you claw his demon eyes out, but he needs to be alive."

The dark haired girl spun around, blue eyes lighting up at the sound of the familiar voice. Quent Yaidin moved out of the shadows toward his ever faithful partner. Hunched posture, projected by a heavy trench coat, shot gun and bindings gripped in his weathered brown hands. His dark, hawk-like eyes studied the injured boy beneath her, knowing it was that cursed white wolf he'd shot once before. The one that got away. He'd decided it was the white one. The white one was the lead demon.

Blue wasn't one of them though. She was his demon. Part demon. She had turned her back on the evil of wolves and sided with him. She was faithful as any dog, not a traitorous, murdering creature like the dark haired boy she had caught. Yaidin smiled at Blue.

The girl smiled like a young child as he chuckled, finally, finally having something to smile about after all the years of hunting and searching.

"Good girl, Blue. Here." The sheriff tossed her ropes and . . . and a collar. "Tie him up. We have a meeting to get to."

Blue nodded and reached for the collar, finger shaking very slightly. Despite her hatred, despite her resolve she found herself thinking:

-Forgive me.-

Kiba's world was swimming; a hazy mixture of moonlight, darkness and cobalt blue. Blue. She'd betrayed him. She'd betrayed them all. For Yaiden! For the wolf killer. Even after meeting her. Even after discovering what she was.

Kiba felt something slid around his neck, the groan of a tightening leather strap filling his senses. Horror surged through his being, overpowering his mind suddenly was the powerful instinct that he had to get away at all costs. He could NOT let that strap get around his throat!

"NO!" he screamed, thrashing and flailing his arms blindly, swinging at the blurry form of the female sitting atop him. He felt his arms being struck away and the collar tightening cruelly on his throat. A chain snapped into place, fastening to his neck. Caging him. Like a house pet.

"NO! No! Blue! Don't!" he shouted desperately. There was fear in his voice, edging on hysteria. She was going to collar him! She was actually going to give him to the humans!

His fingers, slick with his own blood grappled uselessly with her. His green-blue eyes fastened on hers, fear, betrayal, and wild incomprehension swirling in his gaze. His grip slackened from her wrists. "Blue," he pleaded, softly, repeating her name. "Blue, please."

She looked sadly at the wolf as he slipped into a drugged sleep, eyes fluttering weakly as he fought the chemicals.

"I'm not a wolf, Kiba. I'm only half," she told him bleakly.

The pack leader didn't hear anything else. Her blue eyes faded into cold darkness, and he was drowning in shadow.

Across the city, Cheza sat up next to Hige and Toboe. Her bright, ruby red eyes shone bright in the moonlight, contrasting with the alabaster hue of her skin. Pearly, shimming beads of water seeped from her eyes, streaking twin paths down her pale cheeks to drip from her chin.

Tsume sat up, golden eyes darting toward the girl, taking in her tears and stunned posture, hunched over, fingers clasped over her heart. Toboe had been the first up, sensitive to Cheza's pain, he sat beside her, whimpering slightly. His boyish feature creased in worry for the girl. Hige woke last, blinking up at the Flower Maiden and yawning as he scratched the back of his head, running fingers though his messy orange hair.

He yawned again and mumbled sleepily, "What's th' matter, Cheza?"

The girl clenched her hand tighter and a fresh stream of tears dripped from her face.

"Where is Kiba. Where is Kiba? Where? Where? Where. . ."

And into the night, on went her soft, broken refrain. Calling to the wolf and receiving no answer.

Chapter 3: Blood of the Alpha, the Other Piece.

OK. The three wolves all loved Cheza.

Toboe held a deep, loving affection for the girl that became nearly brother-sister. He was always complimenting the Flower Girl and searching to please her even more so than he tried to please Tsume and the others. It was very innocent and (for lack of another adjective) cute.

Hige was fond of her in the sense of awe and admiration one had for a legend or a dream come true. She was a wonder to behold and he was totally at peace with that fact and the feelings that came with it. What was the point in pretending he didn't care? Made him think too much anyway. Got him hungry.

Tsume would never admit it, but in a cold, 'I-only-put-up-with-you-'cause- Kiba's-obsessed-with-you kind of way, he valued her. He often had said he was just using her to get to whatever Paradise Kiba was looking for and like all the humans he'd used before, he cared nothing for her. . . He was a miserable liar of course, but he was dn good at keeping his image.

So they all loved her to varying degrees, but right now Cheza was pushing most of the pack's limits. (Tsume had suggesting ditching her twice already. It was all bluster, but that still spoke for something.)

"Kiba!" she wailed, dashing into the nearest shop and searching the aisles desperately for the lost wolf. As if the attractive white wolf would just materialize conveniently inside the tiny flower shop. "Kiba!" she repeated, ducking under a table of roses to search the floor.

"Why is that little brat searching in here!" Tsume snarled, as Toboe raced over to the flower girl to aid in her search. Hige halted, panting in the door and sniffed the floral smells of the flower shop, sensitive nose taking in the individual scents all at once.

"Kiba was attracted to Cheza by her scent right?" Hige remarked, rubbing his nose with a finger. Tsume grunted the affirmative and the smaller wolf continued. "She smells like a flower. Kiba likes Cheza; therefore, Kiba must like flowers, resulting in Cheza searching any and all places with flowers in them because of course Kiba must be where ever flowers are, because he must like them and obviously MUST be here."

Hige gasped, taking a breath after a huge run-on sentence/rant. Tsume eyed the other wolf derisively a moment.

"Feel better?"

Hige straightened up and laughed as he slung his arms behind his head. "Yeah, actually."

"Kiba?" came the repetitive, pitiful inquiry. The two pack members blinked down at the Flower Maid who was peering at them from underneath a table cloth draped over the nearest flower stand. Her ruby and rose hued eyes were lost and afraid. Toboe's reddish colored head emerged from the depths of the table cloth beside her, crawling across the floor. There was a dust smear on his nose and his bright russet eyes were sad.

"He's not here, Cheza," said the youngest wolf, looking at the girl beside him. She looked at him, face falling. "We can't just wander around looking for him. We gotta-,"

"Kiba!" Cheza exclaimed and dashed out the door again, voice confused, and frightened. People were staring at the three boys left standing in the store with a mixture of distrust and dislike. Tsume scowled and turned out the door as Hige and Toboe sprinted after the runaway Flower Maid.

"Cheza! Stop!" Hige wailed. "Ugh! What is she doing! We'll never find Kiba like this!"

Tsume ran up and drew even with him matching his pace quickly. He golden moon eyes looked more irritated than before.

"She can't sense him so she has nothing to go on. No hint of where Kiba could be, so she just wanders around," he said in disgust. "Her logic is too simple to actually figure a proper plan to find him. She's a flower! What more did you expect."

Toboe glanced back at Tsume, hurt. "That's not very nice to say," he murmured.

Tsume snorted, but said no more.

"Kiba! Where is Kiba! I cannot find him!" the girl lamented, dashing up and down the streets with desperate abandon, peering into windows, doors, bags and other equally improbable places to find the missing wolf. Cheza looked ready to cry.

"I must be ill! I cannot find Kiba!" she wailed, collapsing on her rear in the middle of the road and bursting into tears.

Hige slapped his face. "Oh boy," he grumbled and followed Toboe who was already helping Cheza off the ground. Several bystanders were eyeing the sweet looking, but miserable little girl with sympathy and some apprehension. What the heck was she bawling about?

Hige rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously, waving at the people.

"Kids, huh? Heh heh. . .real fun," he giggled woodenly as the human frowned at him and hurried away. "Heh, heh. . .Toboe get her out of here!" he added under his breath, face sliding from disarming and friendly to dangerous and impatient in a blink. Coming from the usually laid-back guy, this held some hint as to his current mood.

Toboe grunted and gasped, trying to haul the limp, uncooperative, Cheza to her feet. However, she seem quite content to flop in the middle of the street, crying. Flustered and indecisive, the pup looked imploringly to Hige.

"Oh come on. She won't get up. Maybe we should just let her sit so we can talk – Hey! Tsume!"

The older wolf had already solved the problem his own way and relieved the boy of his burden, both physical and mental by grabbing Cheza around her tiny waist and easily swinging her up into his arms, bridal style. He looked just as annoyed as before, only now he was acting on it. He ignored Cheza's loud protests of "No! I must find Kiba! Tsume needs to put me down right now! Where is Kiba? Kiba?" and marched quickly down the road.

"Come on. I have a hunch," the eldest wolf snapped at the other two. Hige and Toboe glanced at each other, equally startled. Tsume didn't pause in his walk as he moved down the street, ignoring all the queer-gazes following them.

"We don't have all day!" Tsume snarled over his shoulder. "The sooner we find Kiba the sooner she'll shut the hell up."

Toboe looked uncertain, but dutifully followed after Tsume, quickening his pace to catch up with him and Cheza. Hige sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck, feeling sorry for himself again. He wondered for the millionth time how he'd gotten mixed up with these guys and started after his comrades.

"Bet he went out to get lunch or something," grumbled the boy and trotted after the distressed Flower Girl, the confused pup and the pissed off lone wolf. "Better have saved some for me. . ."

Kiba was in pain. He was no stranger to the sensation but this was a new kind of pain. Through the haze of muddled thought and dark he felt he was laying eagle spread, drifting in an ocean. Just drifting, the waves of the dark ocean lapped gently at his body, washing over his arms and face, and soaking his skin. But the movement was not nearly as soothing as it sounded. In fact it was fast becoming a torment. He bit back a whine as the discomfort became very real agony.

The water, by some strange means had been transformed to mild acid. It was all over him, encasing him. He was drowning in the horrible feeling, but he didn't struggle. He couldn't. The wolf's vision filled with black veils of darkness, like a star less night and the pain was invisible to him, hidden, attacking Kiba in the cover of shadow.

He stared listlessly into the liquid darkness, drifting, sinking in the acidic pain, helpless to stop it. Paralyzed.

It was a horrifying sensation.

Kiba swallowed and tried to speak, lips struggling to form words. His throat seemed to clench and the wolf utter a faint 'ugh' of pain, but nothing more. Stray wisps of dark hair trailed in his eyes, but he couldn't see them. His hands shifted slightly, the only movement he could manage, but he could see nothing.

-Hige? Toboe? Tsume?-

Darkness. Only darkness, slithering under his body, caressing his skin, burning him with steady waves of pain. He fought to move. He'd never been this helpless, so drowsy, but screaming at the same time.

-Cheza? Where are you? It's so cold here. So dark. No stars. No moon. No wind. I can't smell the Lunar Flowers anymore. I can't feel Cheza. I can't feel anything, but pain. Where are you guys?-

Kiba's eyes clenched shut, but he could decipher no difference in the light. So dark.

-Someone. . .anyone. Can you hear me? It's so cold and dark. . .-

"I heard you."

Kiba's vibrant green-blue eyes snapped open fast as any startled hunter and too fast to follow he lunged at the speaker.

Correction.

'Attempted' to lunge at the speaker. His charge was cut pitifully short as his body refused to finish the movement and he collapsed back to the ground before he'd even had a chance to properly see his attacker.

He only saw that eye. Covered by a black streak of shadow, but he knew who it was.

The pain before, which had been appropriately compared with fire brands pressed all over his skin, had dulled to a constant ache that filled his muscles, dragging him to the ground. His eyes felt so heavy, he could only just keep them half open, lack black brown hair trailing into his astonishingly feral features.

Kiba panted, breathe shallow in his throat as he struggled to breathe with his paralyzed body. His chest heaved painfully against the cold stone beneath him, the smells of chemicals, metal, plants and human – No! Noble! - assaulted his nose, making him need to sneeze, but unable to do so. He slowly focused all his mind's energy, every particle of his thought on moving his left arm, lying beside his face.

Painstakingly slow, and unsteady, he managed to shift his limb closer to his body. He could feel the presence of the human Noble close by, crouched behind him, watching. He didn't care. Let the man think what he wanted. Gritting his teeth, Kiba dragged his hand to his neck, fingers trailing up to his throat.

A thick, leather collar, much like Hige's was fastened about his neck. He let his hand go limp, fingers laying loosely the hard rawhide strap. His face had gone unnaturally vacant.

"I'm terribly sorry," a deep reverberating voice murmured apologetically. "It had to be done. For both your safety and that of my colleague." Kiba's hackles rose and he growled deep in his throat, chest rumbling with the hate filled snarl. The human was the farthest thing from sorry. He was pleased.

"Why -," Kiba gasped, forcing the words from his throat. He managed to move his hand off the collar, eyes burning his in pale face. His dark green gaze swung around to stare at the man's shadowy figure.

"Why did Yaiden give me to you? What do you want?" the wolf demanded monotonously, eyes looking away from the man and scanning the room. dn. He was facing some random corner of the chamber and unable to move his aching neck, he couldn't see anything behind him.

Kiba stiffened suddenly, a gasp catching in his throat as his deep green-blue eyes widened.

The Noble was touching him! The man's fingers were stroking his hair gently as anytime Cheza had, smoothing the disheveled tendrils from his brow and tucking it behind his ear. Kiba shivered slightly as the Noble's skin brushed the back of his ear. It was a highly sensitive spot.

"It's not just you, Fang. It's the Flower Maid too, of course," the man told him, idly using the alternate meaning for Kiba's name. "She has always been precious, but now, you too are valuable. Worthy to be used for my purpose," he explained as if Kiba and Cheza were but mere tool to be purchased.

Cold anger burned through Kiba's blood, mimicking the acid ocean he'd been drowning in moments before.

All while the man spoke he stroked his captive's head, gently combing the messy strands with graceful fingers. He wasn't hurting Kiba, or even trying to scare him, but it was far worse. He was dn 'petting' him, like a common house creature. A venomous rumble of loathing welled up in Kiba's throat, filling the air as his face darkened in rage, helpless to teach this arrogant Noble he was NOT something to be owned!

"Don't 'touch' me!" Kiba hissed, hatred permeating his usually soft and dreamy voice. "I do nothing for 'humans'! Especially you! You're the man you kidnapped, Cheza!"

The Noble laughed, sounding startled by Kiba's tone. He rose gracefully to his feet, reaching down to ruffle Kiba's hair as if congratulating a dog on learning a new trick. Kiba bared his fangs at Cheza's kidnapper, pupils dilating as bloodlust boiled through him, his whole body coiling, but lacking the energy to actually attack. The man, however, merely smiled, dismissing the wolf's bitter hatred.

"I thought a Flower Girl was all I needed," he breathed, staring off into space, contemplating some unimaginable puzzle. His dark hair shifted on his neck as he shook his head and his long cloak slipped across his wide shoulders. The man reeked of wealth and arrogance. . .but something else too. Kiba inclines his head just slightly, sniffing the air carefully, sorting through the hundreds of individual scents and picking out a sour, poisonous stench.

It smelled of grief and ambition.

"I should have known it would be you though," remarked the Nobel, still rambling on to himself. Kiba curled and uncurl his fingers, vainly hoping that the drugs in his system would dissipate with movement, but the leaden feel in his body didn't fade. The human paused a moment, thinking before he finished his thought. "The other piece."

Kiba's rage was momentarily forgotten as he stared up at the man.

"Piece?" he murmured, voice soft.

"Yes. The Book of the Moon mentioned it before. I was a fool to let this goose chase go on so long," the Noble murmured under his breath, but Kiba's sharp ears picked up every word clear as day. "Flower Child and the blood. I forgot about the blood."

The man laughed suddenly and walked toward Kiba once more. Kiba stiffened again, snarling, hackles rising as his eyes somehow became more bestial despite his human form. There was something wrong about this human.

Unnatural.

The closest thing he'd ever scented to it was the odor of a rabid mountain lion. Cunning, deadly, but mad. And all that together made for a hideous combination. Kiba sensed the man wasn't insane as that cat of course. He was obviously very intelligent, but whatever it was that drove him to do this, to collar a wolf and kidnap the Flower Maiden, was something of an obsession.

"Stay back!" Kiba warned; the low growl of a wolf snarl was unmistakable in his tone. His eyes had become predatory slits, his mouth pulled back in an inhuman snarl that bared ivory fangs. The overall effect transformed a good-looking human teenager into a deadly, hunter; darkening those beautiful features and morphing them into something far more primal. Still breathtaking, but primal. Of course this man could see straight through the disguise to the predator beneath; to the claws, the fur and fangs. He knew the hatred in Kiba was real as any fire.

And he was playing with matches.

"I'm terribly sorry, young Kiba. To have stolen your name and not given mine in exchange," the man laughed, crouching in front of the collared wolf. Kiba growled, the deep, nightmare sound echoing through out the cavernous room, filling the room with a whole pack of snarling beasts instead of the one. The Noble knelt beside him so Kiba had to struggle to look at him. The man solved the problem however, by catching Kiba under the chin.

A dangerous move.

But by sliding the palm of his hand, under the wolf's jaw and slipping long, slender fingers on either side the arch of his throat, he could safely hold the wolf's face without fearing a bite from needle sharp fangs.

He forced Kiba's head up, bringing his angular face inches from Kiba's dark greenish eyes. Both pairs actually. The green ones and the gold ones.

The Noble's smiled.

"I am Darcia."

Kiba's face went completely neutral, gaze drilling into the man's single good eye. Darcia seemed to frown only slightly as he met the alpha's gaze. Kiba's eyes were usually intense in a distant kind of way, but now all that passion had zeroed in on Darcia and it seemed to key in on one nerve or another. Kiba sensed the status of their positions change. Kiba wasn't just an object now.

He was a predator.

The Noble, however, did not exhibit any outward recognition of the change. He didn't gasp, or frown or show anger or fear. But both Darcia and Kiba knew something had changed and the human's wariness of the captive wolf had risen. The human's face remained calm, a cool mask as he continued to study Kiba's unnatural, and feral features. Whether the wolf had a measure of human attractiveness or not he certainly hit the mark well.

"Beautiful animal," he said admiringly. Kiba snarled and bared his fangs again, but the man only seemed amused. "The same way Cheza is a rare and precious rose. You two were meant to share this fate. But that's enough talk. This conversation must be wearying on you, Kiba."

The wolf's jaw tightened as he gritted his teeth, but otherwise his face had gone dreamily blank. As if he cared less what this man was hinting at, much less feel fear. Darcia could see the stubborn pride in the boy's eyes, wolf and human both.

"You'd best get some more rest."

Darcia reached up and lifted his eye patch. Knowing full well what he was doing Kiba quickly tried to close his eyes, but it was too late. He met the human's gaze and. . .

-Blood moon. . .-

Chapter 4: The Meeting

No really she didn't. Now that she was actually sitting on the trans. express to Lunar City she was starting to wonder if perhaps her good sense was slipping or maybe she'd been under the influence of something when she'd brought the stupid ticket to the station and boarded this idiotic train to go where ever the world it was she was going.

The ticket said Lunar City didn't it? But somehow she felt compelled not to believe the scrap of paper stub. After all if hadn't been she who bought it but an unknown factor in this strange and twisted tale of mystery. Cher loved mystery novels, being a scientist discovering the mysteries of the world, the idea of the unknown thrilled her as much as it frustrated her.

And the last few months of her life had been . . . frustrating.

Cheza, the Flower Maiden, had been kidnapped. Right in front of her eyes in fact. Cher shivered at he memory, the terrible things she saw in the eye of that man. His mournful, terrible gaze, looking out at her from beneath that porcelain mask as he sent her careening into a world of wolves and nightmares, still haunted her.

Besides the mental assault, the kidnapped had done far worse. He'd stolen Cheza…and then gone and lost her. Yes, the idiot had lost her; to a pack of no account street brats at that. Cher glanced thoughtfully out the window over the endless oceans spanning from the train tracks. She gazed into the foaming, lashing depths of the dark seas, feeling that the sea somehow sensed her mood and rolled to match it.

Then she received this mysterious E-mail. An invitation to something supposedly important. Most unsettling. Good sense once again tried to reason with her usually cooperative mind and tell her to return to the ground searches with the others (not that they would appreciate her since they mostly considered her a soft palmed intellectual and no use to them at all) but. . .

But…

But: that horrible, evil word that interrupted her logical and methodical thoughts and threw off her impeccable rationality. It was infuriating, but she could not deny that it was this very word that had fueled her career and made her what she was today.

A valued mind in the world of modern science.

…and divorced.

Cher shook away that last, clinging thought and dismissed it as frivolous regrets imagined by her weary mind. She was so caught up in her work it was actually making her believe that her ex: Hubb, could soothe her frazzled nerves. She snorted softly to herself, gazing at her pale, reflection through her wire framed glasses. Her silky pile of goldenrod tresses swirled up in a neat twist behind her head, artfully placed curls of hair hanging over her forehead, skillfully accenting sculpted cheekbones and wide, carefully make-upped sky blue eyes.

She was considered a beauty and wasn't ashamed of it. She vigilantly maintained her appearance out of simple habit, but her work filled all of her free time and she had no wish to go angling for all those other 'fish in the sea' or so it were. Her divorce hadn't been pleasant, but her newfound single-hood wasn't much fun either. No point in being single if you're work makes you unavailable anyway.

Hubb used to say she was never really married to him, but to all the studies on Cheza the Flower Child. Cher admitted it was ironically true. Of course that hadn't been the only thing that had driven them apart, but Cher had the uneasy feeling that if it hadn't been for Cheza, her life might have been a much more meaningful one.

Shaking all these feelings away she refocused on her previous train of thought: What was it that made her come out here?

Cher felt it had something to do with what she'd seen back on that mountain top in Central Garden. When she'd glimpsed the missing Flower Maiden for the first time in a month since she'd been taken, she'd been running with those delinquents, carefree and … smiling. Cheza had been smiling.

Cher closed her eyes, recalling that smile; the way she motioned for her new companions to follow her. Cher was certain she'd seen her clasp hands with one of them. Yes, that young wild thing, the one with messy black brown hair and ragged clothing. She could see him clearly in her mind: intense eyes (a dark color, she couldn't tell what) set forward, locked on Cheza like she was the only thing that mattered in the universe. Not even the man he'd taken down could distract his gaze from her.

The scientist sighed and propped her chin on her hand.

He was so familiar. She was certain she'd seen him before. Him and that one ginger haired kid in the orange sweatshirt. Hadn't she seen both of them somewhere before. Oh, but it was hopeless, like a song long forgotten, but the tune stuck in your head, it was for Cher.

For come strange reason her thoughts kept flickering back to that big white dog they captured a couple months ago.

The train shuddered and screeched to a halt. The scenery had shifted from blue ocean to overgrown metropolis, crumbling buildings and scant few people going about their work, some how scraping a living out of the weather beaten city. The woman quickly gathered her jacket about her slender shoulders and moved toward the door; mentally reciting the e-mail and postcard she'd been sent.

-'Go to Stony Brook Square and wait in the old chapel. I have a very interesting proposition concerning the whereabouts of Cheza. No harm will come to you, I am I business man with information and proof. . .proof that wolves exist. Come if you will. I will wait until 8:00 PM: 2 hours after the first train to Lunar City arrives. The data I hold may prove the key to drawing Cheza safely back to you.'-

Cher was no fool. (if running out to meet an unknown person in the middle of nowhere was not foolish) She knew he/she wanted something in return, but some obscure personality inside her drove the scientist to abandon reason and simply go with gut instinct, something she'd been certain she'd forgotten.

"Stony Brook Square," Cher muttered, thirty minutes of walking and direction asking later. She stared up through the drifting snow flakes overhead into the gray skies. The spires and ancient walls of the old chapel reeled into the clouds like unmovable sentinels.

"Cheery," she murmured softly, sashaying briskly into the building, pausing only to part the two forbidding wood doors. They moaned like wakened ghosts, hinges echoing throughout the cavernous structure. She carefully let the doors swing shut behind her and moved down the debris strewn center aisle. The pews were rotting away, going back to dust as age stole away their former luster and strength. The stained glass windows were broken, colorful shards littering the carpet like broken dreams of a child.

My Lord, that was morbid.

"So Dr. You have come."

Cher turned coolly to address the male speaker behind her. He must be the mysterious e-mailer. She took a breath, a careful and well through out demand for information moving to her lips. . .

Where it abruptly died and turned sour on her tongue.

"YOU!" she exclaimed in horror.

The masked man stepped into the light, leaving the shadowy corner of the second entryway to reveal that the familiar figure had at least switched out of his expansive black and blue robes and into a simpler black overcoat that hung off his wide shoulders and trailed to his feet. She noted with detached numbness that he was built quite well. The strange head piece was absent, revealing dark, blue black hair that only just touched his shoulders.

However, that horrible, haunting white mask was unmistakable. This was Cheza's kidnapper.

"Yes. But I'd prefer to be called Darcia," he returned mildly.

Cher swallowed convulsively and stilled her frayed nerves.

-OK. Stay in control. Don't be stupid. If he wanted to kill you he could have done so back at the lab. He may have valuable information and he seems to know much about Cheza. So. . . it won't hurt to hear him out.-

The elegant lady took a deep breath, composed herself and stepped toward the man, trying to seem unshaken and cool.

"You seem to already know me as Dr. Cher Degre, so introductions would be redundant on my part," she said calmly. "So. Lord Darcia. What news do you have of Cheza and this proposal of yours."

Darcia's reaction was hidden by the mask, only the emotionless stare of shadows were visible in those dark eyes. However there was a small chuckle that shook his shoulders a moment. He stepped forward and bowed slightly to her, very proper and gentlemanly.

"Very businesslike, I admire that and will reciprocate in turn," he said smoothly, straightening. Cher nodded in gratitude. "After you're ship shot mine down you tracked Cheza to the Central Garden. Am I correct?"

She nodded almost imperceptibly, egging him to continue. He was quite the politician, she could tell. Darcia nodded back and went on.

"Your men were attacked by several 'boys' who took down a number of your soldiers and fled in the company of the Flower Maiden. You glimpsed several of them as they lead Cheza into the ruins and vanished."

Cher was disconcerted by Darcia's note to detail. (And what did he mean with that emphasis on 'boys'?) He knew far too much about this. He must have tracked their radio transmissions or hacked their computers for information. Impressive, but she didn't want a recap of her failure, she wanted new data.

"These things I know. What have they to do with finding Cheza? And furthermore, what is all this talk of wolves? Why does it matter to our finding her?" Cher said sharply, digging into the questions with no mercy. It was her most effective strategy at getting the information she wanted. Be straight forward.

Darcia seemed to smile under the mask. "Very well, Dr, but I think that you already suspected something was happening with wolves. After all, Cheza was stirred by the scent of wolf blood. . .a very particular wolf, whether or not you were aware of it."

"Go on."

"Cheza reacted deeply to the scent of the wolf's blood, because this wolf was seeking her out and she it," Darcia said. The theory was so absurd that Cher knew without a doubt that this man believed it. It was unsettling, but strangely she found her logical mind did not reject the idea entirely, only became more curious.

"So, Cheza is somehow. . .connected with an extinct creature?" she asked skeptically, though she was anything but. She wanted answers you see and this was the best way to get them.

Darcia shook his head, obviously reading her game, but playing along. "No, my dear Dr; she is connected with a very live wolf. I think you have suspected this as a possibility. Cheza is a very special girl. She can feel things we cannot and see what others don't."

Cher was grim. "Wolves you mean."

"Precisely."

"OK. Let's go out on a limb and say I believe you. How does that get me closer to finding Cheza. It's intriguing that you think wolves have somehow survived without detection all these years, and even developed a mind to seek out the Flower Maiden; it's radical thinking really. But my top priority is finding Cheza. How do these animals tie in? How have they gone unseen for so long?"

Darcia smiled again.

"I could not explain it to you. I can only show you, but I can tell you that we have something that Cheza wants. Something she will physically come and find, she is so drawn to it," the man said. "I have the wolf. The one Cheza's spirit is connected to. She will come through the mouth of hell to find the wolf. She will come to us."

Cher frowned.

"Why are you telling me this. Its sounds as if you could have taken Cheza without my help."

"No, no. I do need you help. You have the technology with which to track the girl's movements, where I have only rumor and . . . intelligence."

Cher thought he wasn't giving himself as much credit as he was due. Those details toward the battle at Central Garden had been amazing to say the least.

"I think there is more to it," she said shortly.

"There is," Darcia agreed. "You are Cheza's guardian so to speak. I do not have interest in her forever. I need only use her for a simple purpose – nonviolent I assure you, and I would like to see her safely taken home. Cheza should not be wandering without proper technology to sustain her. Her time grows short without appropriate sustenance."

Cher bit her lip. She had suspected this would be true. Like a flower, Cheza survived on water, sunlight, moonlight and nothing more. But also mimicking a flower her life was very short. The boys she was traveling with could not know this.

"What purpose?" Cher asked slowly. This was beginning to sound too good to be true. Literally. There had to be more to it. It sounded as if all he wanted was to use Cheza for a quick personal goal then hand her back over safely not to mention the scientific phenomenon of proving an entire species of canine still existed. It was too easy. He did all the work only to hand Cher exactly what she wanted. All the answers to her problems on a silver platter.

Well you know what they say about silver platters: More often than not, they're actually baited.

"What is it exactly that you want to do?" Cher asked coolly. He should have expected this question, so it was perfectly fair of her to ask.

Darcia seemed to hesitate a moment, Cher noted this and watched him closely.

"To cure someone," he said finally. "To save my love and my own life and also to regain my future."

The waves were gone now. The pain had no substantial comparison except that he simply hurt a lot right now. It was like a dream, a horrible dream that he was unable to wake from. He was no longer laying in a dark ocean, but instead a desert.

A scorched planet of earth so dry it cracked, but bled no blood for all its life waters had been devoured. Burning wind that held the breath of fire, cutting, sand that whipped at the skin and ground it raw. Kiba was in the center of it all. Lying on his back again, eagle spread once more, his hair fanned out under his neck; jacket half hanging off his shoulders, spread beneath his wiry body. Paralyzed, Kiba looked on; his face a rigid mask of vacuity.

Except his eyes.

Kiba was the unfortunate owner of the most open and honest eyes any human or wolf could fathom. And right now, they were wide with a primal terror that the wolf had not experienced so deeply before in his entire life. He was screaming without a voice and no one could hear his howls of warning. His shouts of sorrow and despair at this nightmare. His agonized voice didn't even fall upon deaf ears, because there was simply no one around to hear.

Kiba was trapped here, bound to the bloodless ground, helplessly watching the moon turn ruby red in the sky over him. As if the stars were weeping blood, the moon was turning a slow, sickening scarlet above him. He wanted to close his eyes, block out the awful sight that poisoned his mind and belief. The vision of death driven like a bolt of hell through his brow and burrowing deep into his thoughts. He didn't think he could take this much longer.

-Cheza. . .-

He struggled to see her face. Tears threatened to burn his gaze as he thought of her. He'd failed to protect her. Darcia wanted her, and Kiba had played right into his miserable hands.

-Blue.-

The half-wolf's face easily materialized in his memories, blue eyes ruthless in her sharply beautiful face. Her legs across his chest, hands around his throat. He bit back a small sound of angry betrayal and struggled with himself, his own guilt and disappointment. She had turned on him, she'd collared him herself.

The bloody moon was closing in on him, filling his world with crimson. Kiba struggled, body coiling and shifting in feeble attempts to break away from the invisible bindings holding him to the earth. Liquid splattered across his forehead in a large globule, exploding and coating his brow and soaking his hair. The metallic stench of fresh blood flooded his nose. It began to rain, pour. The stars were weeping blood. Kiba was soaked, choking, blinking it from his deep green-blue eyes. Blood rose up around him, thick, sloshing, rolling, the moon glaring down at the lone wolf, sinking in blood. It was around his neck, seeping into his jacket, through his clothes.

The smell made his eyes burn, everything was scarlet. He closed his eyes, fighting down a howl of despair as the disgusting liquid covered his face.

-Blue. Why? Why?


End file.
